and the misery which lay within it, made it an ‘uncongenial’ place to live in.” This powerful first paragraph of the novel sets the scene for the most part of the story and gives the reader an immensely thorough image of what those who are considered Untouchables have to tolerate on a daily basis. And yet, much akin to their ancestors who led identical lives as them, they were brought up persuaded that the way they live is their appointed fate, and have grown to be content with it.However, Bakha is far from satisfied with his position in life. After encountering the “glamour of the ‘white man’s’ life”, through several years of working among them in the barracks of a British regiment, he has become quite discontent. He imitates the “Tommies”, wearing the soldiers’ western dress, that with which he would willingly sacrifice his comfort for, in a pathetic attempt to derive even the smallest amount of dignity and identity. His overwhelming desire to mimic the British soldiers had arisen from being told that “they were the sahibs, superior people”, and that to appear and behave like them would mean that he too was a sahib. His naivety was simply a way in which he disguised from his conscious mind that he was and always would be an Untouchable. Returning from his temporary stay in thegone during the day, but hopeful and enthusiastic about what he had heard and the possibility of not having to clean the latrines ever again. He proceeded home to tell his father about Gandhi’s speech and the poet’s discussion with the westernised Muhammadan.I think that Bakha had accepted his position in life as an Untouchable, and realised that as an individual he could do but nothing to change this. With more people like Gandhi and the poet, however, things could change dramatically for the good, and the oppression and exploitation suffered by the underprivileged Untouch...
